Two mid 19th century New York Politicians/Lawyers Traveling together.

In Sept. 1854, at the time they signed the Franklin House Register, both James B. McKean and Alembert Pond were practicing law in Saratoga Springs, NY. Interestingly you have to wonder if they were friends as they both shared the exact same birthday - Aug. 5, 1821


James Bedell McKean
(Pictured above in his Military Uniform during the Civil War)
(1821 - 1879)
from http://wikivisually.com/wiki/James_B._McKean

He was one of the professors in Jonesville Academy for some time. He was the Superintendent of the
Common Schools of Halfmoon, New York in 1842.
McKean was elected colonel of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Regiment, New York State Militia, in
1844. Then he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and commenced practice in Ballston Spa,
New York. He moved to Saratoga Springs, New York in 1851. He was First Judge of the Saratoga County
Court from 1855 to 1858.
McKean was elected as a Republican to the 36th and 37th United States Congresses, and served from
March 4, 1859, to March 3, 1863. He was Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department
of State.
During the American Civil War, he organized the 77th New York Volunteer Infantry, in 1861 and served
as colonel of the regiment until July 27, 1863, when he resigned his commission due to poor health.
He was appointed treaty commissioner to Honduras in 1865. In 1867, he ran for Secretary of State of
New York on the Republican ticket, but was defeated by Democrat Homer Augustus Nelson.
He was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the Utah Territory by President
Ulysses S. Grant in 1870 and served until 1875. In Utah history, McKean is famous for intensifying
the federal government's efforts to abolish polygamy, which some members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints practiced as a religious doctrine until 1890. Evidence suggests McKean
believed it was his moral and religious duty to wage legal war against the practice and that
questionable tactics were justified if they helped him achieve his goal. Shortly after his
appointment, McKean wrote to a friend, "[T]he mission which God has called me to perform in Utah,
is as much above the duties of other courts and judges as the heavens are above the earth, and
whenever or wherever I may find the Local or Federal laws obstructing or interfering therewith, by
God's blessings I shall trample them under my feet."
During McKean's tenure in Utah, Mormon leader Brigham Young was indicted for "lascivious
cohabitation," the federal government's strongest case against polygamy at that time. To
ensure Young's and other Mormons' convictions, McKean essentially banned members of the LDS Church
from serving on juries, a decision which the Supreme Court of the United States later ruled
against. Consequently, all charges against Young at that time were quashed.
McKean was interred in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Salt Lake City.



Alembert Pond
(1821 - 1896)

Attorney; Delegate to the Republican National Convention from New York, 1856; Member New York State Assembly from Saratoga County, Second District, 1868